Please contribute your ideas in the comments.
A good shelter does _________________________.
A good shelter does not _________________________.
I’ll start:
A good shelter does list its complete monthly statistic reports on its website.
A good shelter does not kill pets.
A good shelter does give quality veterinary care and rehabilitation thru it’s network with the community.
A good shelter does not kill pets.
A good shelter provides just that… “shelter” for those precious ones who need it… care.. medication..food.. lodging…whatever is needed..
A good shelter never even considers killing a animal..
A good shelter takes in all pets, has them evaluated by a Vet; posts their awesome pictures and has a warm, welcoming, heart-felt bio about the pet to improve its chances of adoption.
A good shelter NEVER impairs the ability/efforts of rescues, volunteers, potential adopters. AND NEVER EVER HURTS THE ANIMALS IN THEIR CARE!
Oh, sorry, went a little over-board. ~smile~
A good shelter does vaccinate upon intake.
A good shelter never sends out animals they know or suspect have been exposed to highly contagious or infectious and potentially fatal diseases.
A good shelter makes saving lives its top priority.
A bad shelter hires people who treat animals with disdain and cruelty and never makes an effort to get the animals out alive and well.
A good shelter advocates, posts and shares pets in their care.
A good shelter does not kill for space.
A good shelter does not kill because of looks.
I could go on and on with the list… MAS is not a Good shelter.
A good shelter sincerely asks their community for help in PLACING more of their shelter animals and not just wants help with the cleaning of kennels and litter pans.
A bad shelter runs off all the people that want to save more shelter pets.
A good shelter gives emotional comfort and psychological care to its animals, including socialization and exercise, and can tell you on any given day how each of the animals is doing.
A bad shelter says “no,” either explicitly or by simply not responding. No to offers of help . . . no to requests for information . . . no to lifesaving measures.
All of the above, plus:
A GOOD shelter has a single person/employee/volunteer whose only purpose is to create community outreach programs that not only encourage adoption from the shelter, but also works with community members to encourage retention of companion animals; a person whose job is basically a development director for the shelter who also works on grants and other funding sources even though the shelter may be muni.
A BAD shelter is a shelter that doesn’t give a damn and kills adoptable animals for any reason they can think of, and abuses the the meaning of “adoptable”.
A good shelter realizes it makes sense to do what the growing number of open-admission, no kill shelters are doing and put the programs and services of the No Kill Equation in place. (No Kill Communities blog, http://www.no-killnews.com/?page_id=8
The No Kill Equation, http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/shelter-reform/no-kill-equation/).
A good shelter does not kill pets or claim they need to because of irresponsible pet owners, mythical pet overpopulation, puppy mills, or because of the myth that it’s too expensive*.
(*NEW document, “Dollars and Sense: The Economic Benefits of No Kill Animal Control”, http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/econbenefits.pdf)
A good shelter reaches out to rescue groups an actively seeks to facilitate getting pets to them out, whether it is being redeemed by owners, fostered, adopted, or sent to rescue organizations.
A bad shelter is indifferent, hostile and keeps pets for weeks with no care then calls rescue to tell them if the pet is not out in hours, it will be killed (yep, just went through that. Again)
A bad shelter blames the public.
An honest shelter blames themselves.
A good one has no need for blame.
A good shelter does acknowledge that there is always room for improvement and fights valiantly to save the lives of animals entrusted to its care by examing the methods being used in other regions.
A good shelter does not make excuses and defend outdated practices by claiming to be doing the public’s dirty work behind closed doors.
A good shelter markets the animals in their care, has an extensive foster program, and works with any animals with behaviour problems. They use the internet to help reunite lost animals with their families, and later to find those animals new homes if they are not reclaimed. A good shelter embraces volunteers.
A good shelter does not kill animals for convenience, nor do they ridicule the public for surrendering animals.